hristian,
Jewish and Muslim soldiers battle in the Holy Land. And as the tale of the
battle is told, accusations of bias fly from all sides. So what else is new?
In this case, the story is being told in Ridley Scott's new movie, Kingdom
Of Heaven. And the contentious events in question are set in the 12th
century.

In Kingdom Of Heaven, Orlando
Bloom (who, for this role, logged plenty of hours at the gym and reportedly
wears augmented chest hair) plays an actual historical figure -- Balian of
Ibelin, here portrayed as a humble peasant blacksmith who becomes a Crusader
knight. There's a forbidden romance with a princess named Sybilla (Eva Green)
and a Jedi-like mentoring from an older knight (Liam Neeson).

Balian, who has just lost his wife and child, journeys east to
Jerusalem where Sybilla involves him in palace intrigue. While

actorsOrlando Bloom
Eva Green
Liam Neeson
Jeremy Irons
Edward Norton

directorRidley Scott
outtakeA similar Crusades project was in the
works years ago with Arnold Schwarzenegger (in his pre-Governor days) in the
lead role.

there, his skills as a soldier and engineer make
him the city's chief defender. Says Scott, " Balian is the only
[historical] character we took liberty with. We had to. We had to find a leading
guy." Bloom's Balian is, according to Scott, "a very earnest, open and
true character, who is on a journey of spiritual, political and emotional
discovery. It's a huge arc for one man."

Balian's chief adversaries are the
Saracens, led by the legendary Muslim leader Saladin (Ghassan Massoud) -- a
historical figure now so revered in the Middle East that former Iraqi president
Saddam Hussein declared himself a descendent.

Kingdom Of Heaven is a logical
progression for Scott-going from a movie about the Roman Empire (the
Oscar-winning Gladiator) to one about the Holy Roman Empire. However, the
Russell Crowe movie Gladiator was not nearly as provocative. Relatively
few people these days, after all, are setting off bombs and proclaiming
themselves martyrs for Jupiter (ruler of the gods in Roman mythology).

Religious historians are already arguing
about the accuracy of this tale of the Crusades. UCLA professor Khaled Abu el-Fadl
commented in a New York Times article, "In this climate, how are
people going to react to these images of Muslims attacking churches and tearing
down the cross and mocking it?"

Meanwhile, British scholars are outraged at the depiction of the famed Crusaders
-- the Knights Templar -- as brutes. While on location in Morocco the production
company even received bomb threats from Islamic extremists. But Scott says all
the conflicting criticisms may be the best testament to Kingdom Of Heaven's
objectivity. "It's tricky, because you weren't there and you're not talking
to anyone who was there," Scott told Time magazine. "Therefore,
what you are going to put down on paper is sensitive conjecture."

It's good to keep in mind that
underneath all the controversy, Kingdom of Heaven is not a political
manifesto-it's a big-budget Hollywood blockbuster, starring a big-name actor,
that aims to entertain.